Linas Kleiza

Jeremy Lin started over Iman Shumpert again, which suggests three things: 1) Shumpert is still very, very raw and not ready to lead this team anywhere but downward. 2) Baron Davis will be used when he returns. Oh, yes. He will be quite used.

There was wide speculation yesterday afternoon that Baron Davis would make his season debut against the team that released him five weeks ago after he told them he wouldn’t be healthy for at least eight. Whoops. Davis didn’t show his mug last night, but all signs point to this weekend.

Tyreke Evans dropped 32 points on the Clippers in 40 minutes, but couldn’t drop a free throw that might have saved the game for ‘em. Then he dashed to the locker room and dropped a bombshell that he’s considering having laser surgery that will heal his foot and lay him low for the next 3-4 months, or as simplists like to call it, the rest of the season.

I spend one afternoon caroling in my neighborhood and lookit what happens: I return to a league that colluded to all swap jerseys and make me nuts. There’s no way, I’m going to be able to remember that a) Hedo Turkoglu is not on the Suns, b) Hedo Turkoglu was ever not on the Magic and c) Vince Carter isn’t on a pitiful D.C.

Sometimes trades happen that you’re sure must have taken place because one of the GMs was having trouble with his fantasy team. And yes, of course franchise brass play fantasy basketball. How else do small market GMs expect to get their hands on guys like LeBron and ‘Melo?

Old men should also ‘go Wes.’ Or young women. Or old women. Just kidding. Old women don’t want anything to do with fantasy sports. But the point is that anyone who does do fantasy basketball should have already grabbed Wes Matthews after his game-winning 30-point, .579-shooting night.

New Jersey’s stalwart Brook Lopez looks more like a stalled wart so far this season, and nothing improved in the 18+ minutes he played on Wednesday. After shooting .499 in ’09 from the floor, Lopez is writhing around with a .381 FG%.

Above all else, remember this: you should ignore the preseason. There are myriad reasons to ignore it. It’s inaccurate for one. For two, it’s not representational of what the regular season team rotations will be. For hirds, many of the starters (i.e the guys that will end up on your fantasy team come draft day) are going at 60 percent.

If the Raptors make it out of the season with anything better than one of the five worst records in the league, Canadians everywhere should celebrate – or whatever it is Canadians do in lieu of celebrating. I’ve never actually seen a group of Canadians celebrate anything.